ICE Minnesota Chief Counsel Retires as DOJ Minnesota Office Reels From Resignations and Court Rebukes

📌 Key Facts

• Multiple top prosecutors have been terminated or have resigned from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office: five AUSAs were formally fired (including Joseph Thompson), four lead prosecutors on the $250 million Feeding Our Future case (Joe Thompson, Harry Jacobs, Daniel Bobier and Matthew Ebert) have left, and the office now has as few as 17 assistant U.S. attorneys—down from about 70 during the Biden administration and under 40 when Daniel Rosen was sworn in as U.S. attorney in October 2025.
• Joseph Thompson told DOJ and the FBI he supported pursuing the ICE‑shooting matter as assault/obstruction of a federal officer and believed the shooting was justified, but he objected to DOJ’s plan to investigate Renee Good’s widow and potential co‑conspirators; his termination pulled him off the high‑profile welfare‑fraud investigation he had been leading.
• The FBI is excluding Minnesota prosecutors from the federal ICE shooting probe while state leaders have launched a parallel investigation; reporting says DOJ Civil Rights Division officials initially declined to probe Renee Good’s killing, prompting resignations, and DOJ only belatedly opened a civil‑rights probe into Alex Pretti’s death.
• DHS confirmed that Jim Stolley, ICE’s chief counsel in Minnesota, retired after 31 years; his departure is tied in reporting to a torrent of legal challenges and repeated judicial rebukes of ICE over aggressive immigration tactics and failures to comply with release orders.
• The Minnesota departures are part of a broader DOJ exodus and purge: Justice Connection estimates more than 230 DOJ lawyers, agents and other employees were fired in 2025 and roughly 6,400 employees left overall, erasing what critics call “centuries of combined experience” across national security, civil‑rights, ethics, environmental and Jan. 6 work.
• Veteran counterterrorism prosecutor Michael Ben’Ary was summarily fired and had his DOJ phone remotely disabled while handling a Kabul airport bombing case; his dismissal followed hours after a right‑wing commentator publicly flagged his prior work under former Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, raising allegations of political targeting.
• Former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson and other current and former officials have warned that the loss of seasoned, career prosecutors who did not see themselves as political is “immensely damaging to the public interest,” reflecting elite criticism of the firings and resignations.
• DOJ has been filling Minnesota’s gaps with prosecutors detailed from neighboring districts, DHS attorneys and military JAGs; at least one DHS attorney objected to an assignment in court and was removed—yet prosecutors say they have still secured 62 convictions in the broader Minnesota fraud scandal, with estimated losses exceeding $1 billion and the Feeding Our Future trial scheduled for April.
• Reporting documents widespread burnout and dissent inside the office: examples include AUSA Julie Le being removed after telling a judge “this job sucks” and asking to be held in contempt so she could sleep, and sources say departures were driven by heavy caseloads, structural issues, pressure tied to Operation Metro Surge and alleged demands that prosecutors violate legal and ethical duties.

📰 Source Timeline (6)

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